Manchester Gay Pride

The city of Manchester, United Kingdom, is home to one of the oldest gay parades of the country. The Manchester Gay Pride is responsible for attracting thousands of tourists to its Gay Village, each and every year. The Pride essentially consists of a march and several arts, cultural and music events, taking place all over the city. The festival is celebrated with even more vigor on the August Bank Holiday weekend at the Gay Village. The intention of the organizers of the Manchester Gay Pride was clear, to create awareness concerning the struggle, both legally and politically, faced by the gay community of Manchester and also to raise funds for charity.

Even though the title of Manchester Gay Pride was adopted only in the year 2004, the city is not unfamiliar to gay pride. The first gay pride in Manchester was held in the year 1990. Also, the Euro Pride was held in the year 2003 with Manchester as its host. The pride has undergone several name changes owing to several disputes between the City Council, the entire community and the local gay charities and businesses. The basis of the disputes centre around the way the Pride is run and the source of the funds that are raised and how they are distributed to various charity organizations.

The Manchester Gay Pride 2008 was a major success with over 80 floats and groups participating in it. It is considered to be one of the largest gay prides to be conducted in the city in the past 18 years. The streets were filled with spectators and a few protesters too. Though, they couldn't do much about it with all the noise and overjoyed people around them. If it weren't for these protesters, there wouldn't be a need for any such thing as a ‘Gay Parade'. More than the festivities, the parade is more about demonstrating to the general community about how in every way, the gay community is equal to them and should be given a place in the society which is in par to the ones obtained by any member of the community.

The party could be found in every part of the city, most of them in the Gay Village of Canal Street. They party-goers were treated with huge cheers and whistles were blown at them, which is barely audible considering the mayhem of the parade. One thing was for sure, each and every one of people participating in the event had one fabulous time.